


Clip-On

by amateur_professional



Series: Bromance Blurbs [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Christmas, Gen, bros being guys, extreme dread--festive edition, guys being bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25454077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amateur_professional/pseuds/amateur_professional
Summary: A petty, ongoing joke goes a little too far. All in good family fun times.
Relationships: Harriet "Gum" Voigt & Leo Voigt, Herschel Voigt & Leo Voigt, Herschel Voigt/Julien Auclair
Series: Bromance Blurbs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843462





	Clip-On

It was supposed to be a nice, fun Christmas. A modest one at his place with his family, Leo, Gum, and Roose. Theodor couldn’t stay the whole day because he had to go join his parents, but it was an interesting time when he was here with Roose constantly sniffing him over. The holidays had gone well up to this point! So why, WHY in God’s name, diD IT HAVE TO GO SO WRONG—

Ahem.

What had led up to this point wasn’t important, he wanted to insist to himself. But it was more so that he didn’t want to acknowledge it because of how utterly petty and stupid it was—because, see, he had a habit of wearing his tie very loosely. It was more like a scarf under his collar and it was a wonder how it didn’t slip off when he moved. Why did he wear it in the first place if he was going to leave his top few buttons undone like he was changing after a long day of work? He couldn’t say. He just did, and had a weird aversion to wearing one normally outside of a professional setting.

He had picked up a small parcel with his name on it. Then he was suddenly aware of a presence behind him and instantly knew who it was. Who else, what kind of 6’+ person could sneak around so quickly and silently like an oversized house cat?

Leo was watching for his reaction, their expression unreadable as always. Gum (and the kids, dammit) was also peeking her head around the corner. What the hell?

“Uh.” He flipped off the lid of the box and went to look at what was inside. “Thanks, whoever got this..? Why are you looking at me like that?” He froze. In the box was a rolled-up piece of emerald fabric. A clip-on tie. “Huh. Well what do you know..” His eyes flicked from the box to his collar, where a regular tie was sitting, untied. Oh. OH. Gum had a hand over her mouth and was trying hard not to giggle. The kids looked confused, but her enthusiasm was contagious. OH IS THAT WHAT THEY WERE PLAYING AT.

Leo raised an eyebrow at him. “So?”

’So’? They knew exactly what he was thinking!

He chuckled nervously, inching towards.. well, the door, maybe. Mostly just away from every other pair of eyes in the room. “H-hey, now! Come on. I know how to tie a tie.. Jules?”

Julien wasn’t in on the joke, right?

The man in question peered at him over the top of his glasses. “Sorry, cher.” He shrugged. “Err, I think it’s easier if you don’t resist.”

“‘Resist’?!” He spluttered.

Silence. A brief moment of eye contact and a shared nod.

“Like he said, you should—” Just as Leo made a move towards him, he dropped the box and bolted out the flat’s door. There were a few seconds of pause as they picked up the tie, but soon their footfalls could be heard behind him. He heard cheering from Gum.

“GET HIM, DAD!”

Shit shit shit shit shit shit fuckinG CAT

It would’ve been a sight to see, had anyone actually caught a view of the chase. The ones who weren’t tucked in their warm rooms, however, were too drunk to really react.

A ridiculous amount of skipped stair steps that should have broken SOMETHING, AT LEAST, weaving through thick festive decor that had been dumped into the lobby, all the tight turns! Gum got as much shaky footage as she could with her phone camera, but Herschel was surprisingly fast. He’s had to do a lot of running over the years, after all—

Had he been more inebriated, he might have gone for the rooftops instead—

It was a blur of street lights, snowfall, and holiday music blasted on speakers. He’d just made it outside when he was tackled, and then it was a blur of snow, snow, and more snow. He swallowed some. But the cold was barely felt as he and Leo roughhoused on the pavement like a pair of unruly boys. A few half-hearted hits were landed and quickly forgotten about. Nothing to warrant a public disturbance charge, most likely, considering the time of year, and a couple of onlookers even got a laugh out of the scene, snickering into their drinks.

The brief struggle resulted in him in a chokehold pressed tightly to their chest as they fumbled with one hand to switch his ties.

“Okay, okay! Fuck!” He wheezed, finally admitting defeat. “I’ll wear the damn thing!”

…Somehow, his sibling could tell that he wasn’t bluffing, and loosened their hold.

A quick slip, click, and bam! The tie was on. For a minute they sat there in the snow, breathing heavily, feeling the melted slush soak into their clothes—and then, laughing.

Well. He started it, suppressed at first, then louder, throwing his head back and howling towards the night sky like a wolf until he could feel their arm around him bounce with the hitching of his shoulders. Leo’s was a tiny, tiny chuckle in comparison, but unlike the already rare sound, it was sustained, and no amount of conscious restraint would be able to stop it.

Gum shivered in the icy wind with a huge grin on her face as she finished up the recording.

Maybe she should get him another one next year.

**Author's Note:**

> :)


End file.
